The Body in the Library
Miss Marple's old friend Dolly Bantry calls upon her to help find out why a mysterious young woman ended up dead on a rug in the library of her house. The police, of course, are running their own investigation, which leads them to the Majestic Hotel. Of course, it is Miss Marple who notices the crucial clues to solve the crime.
The 1984 adaptation starring Joan Hickson as Miss Marple stayed fairly true to the original text; however, this adaptation does not. Originally aired in 2004 as a part of the Agatha Christie's Marple series featuring Geraldine McEwan as Miss Marple, this version of the story takes many liberties with both the plot, the scenes, and the motivation for murder, which in turn significantly alters the identity of the perpetrator.
It is entertaining to imagine this possible alternate ending; however, unlike with The Secret Adversary, Christie did not leave much ambiguity in the original text that might lead to this alternate ending. Some of her other books have hinted at characters having non-heterosexual relationships, but none were ever as explicit as depicted in this ITV adaptation. I am disappointed that this is the Miss Marple story selected to be in this set. From among all that could have been chosen, this is the one that I would not have picked.
The Mysterious Affair at Styles
Set in the English countryside of 1917, a war-wounded Captain Hastings is staying with an old friend when he runs into Belgian refugee and retired police detective Hercule Poirot, whom he had met in Belgium during the war. When the stepmother of Hastings' friend dies under mysterious circumstances, he sets out to solve the mystery and identify the killer. Ultimately, it is Poirot who ferrets out the truth when Hastings and the police are distracted by the killer's carefully laid red herrings.
David Suchet deftly portrays a Poirot who is still learning English culture, and who has not yet learned that his own sense of order and method cannot be every fully conveyed to others. Hugh Frasier's Captain Hastings is earnest yet innocent in his attempts to understand the darker side of human nature that his cultured upbringing would not allow him to see, even with the evil spectre of war behind him.
Article comments